From Oct. 31 to Nov. 2, the 2019 Woodworking Machinery & Supply Conference and Expo - WMS, Canada's leading woodworking event, which brings together 400 exhibitors and more than 15,000 visitors, from 20 countries, biennially, was held at the Toronto International Centre in Mississauga.

In addition to technologies, semi-finished products, accessories and components, paints and coatings are also on display at WMS. The target visitors are operators related to the wood industry as a whole: manufacturers of finished furniture, doors, windows, semi-finished wood products. etc.

There is a large Italian presence, including manufacturers operating both in Canada and the rest of North America: Biesse, SCM, Cefla, Busellato, Casadei, Volpato. Among the semi-finished and accessory products: Salice, ICA, Mapei. Most of the companies at the fair, nearly a hundred, were represented at the booths of local representatives and intermediaries.
German and Austrian competition was also noteworthy with manufacturers such as Wenig, Homag, Hettich, Blum, etc.

Machines Italia - ICE-Agency Canada, in collaboration with ACIMALL (Association of Italian Manufacturers of Woodworking Machinery and Accessories) participated in WMS 2019 with an information booth (#2337) and mini-collective of companies including: Mario Zaffaroni and Sons, Pade, Nardi.
Participation in the WMS Fair in Toronto was mainly aimed at presenting Italian woodworking technology.
However, the presence at the Canadian fair was also used to promote Xylexpo, the counterpart Italian trade fair event organized by ACIMALL. The Win a Trip to Xylexpo contest, in collaboration with Wood Industry magazine, raffled off two trips to the next edition of Xylexpo in 2020. The drawing for the contest took place at the Machines Italia - ICE-Agency Canada booth, ACIMALL on November 2. Winners of the Win a Trip to Xylexpo 2020 contest are:

Paula Goulding, Liveedge Lumber (Kitchener, ON)
Lisa Gudmundson, Brown & Rutherford (Winnipeg, MB)

In 2018, Italy exported woodworking technologies to Canada worth about 32 million euros, a figure that places Italy fourth among Canadian partners, with a market share of about 11 percent. The trend of Italian exports of woodworking machinery and equipment to Canada for the first 6 months of 2019 is extremely positive: With a +145% Italy stands out in first place among the main Canadian partners. The Canadian (first and second) woodworking industry consists of about 6 thousand companies (91% medium and small size) and about 160 thousand employees and generates about CAD 11 billion GDP annually. The main outlet market for the industry's products is the U.S., which buys more than 75% of Canadian exports (CAD $17 billion)[1].

For more information on this initiative, please contact meccanicaindustriale [at] ice.it ?subject=Machines Italia E-newsletter">meccanicaindustriale [at] ice.it